Part I: My Interview with Georgetta Dane of Big House Wines

I've met a few winemakers in my time. They are a funny bunch -- some really down to earth, some completely snotty, some as dull as watching paint dry -- just like any other group of people.

The thing that has always been slightly hilarious and perplexing to me, though, is the marketing of winemakers as if they are celebrities. For instance, the large winery for which I used to work spent time and money making over winemakers, giving them new hairstyles and new clothes (and breath mints where needed) to make these half-artisan/half-chemist types into something their audience could relate to. I'm not sure this was the best use of time or funds -- as a public, I have a feeling we'd rather see them as they are and enjoy their wines based on the merit of their taste rather than some image the marketing department has conjured. May just be me though.

So when I had lunch with Georgetta Dane from Big House Wines/The Wine Group -- another big company -- I was, honestly, kind of wary. The wines are named so because the winery is across from a jail and the bottles feature very colorful labels. The web site is interactive and very marketing oriented. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was just hoping that I was going to have a pleasant lunch where I wasn't being told that Big House had better wines than Bordeaux, and Georgetta was a wild and crazy winemaker that everyone should love.

Wow, was I pleasantly surprised.

I arrived at the French-American Brasserie (great ATL restaurant, BTW) to find a young, attractive woman in great outfit (she had on a scally cap!) and a lot of class. This woman is cool, real, and smart as a whip. I loved her, and objectively, thought most of her wines were ridiculously under-priced and stuff that I would drink and recommend for casual sipping to anyone.


I didn't take a tape recorder, so I'll chunk this post out by topic and you can pursue whatever seems of interest...

Growing up in a USSR satellite and the role of wine
Georgetta is Romanian born, and while she was growing up, the country was a satellite of the USSR. Although technically the country had sovereignty, it was really behind the Iron Curtain and was, for all intents and purposes, part of the Soviet Union.

The wines of Romania have historically been made of native grapes. Sadly, during Communism the focus moved from these beautiful indigenous berries to hearty hybrids that could pump out nasty bulk wine to feed the drunken masses.

With the breakdown of the Berlin Wall, Romania (which has a lot in common with Western Europe. In fact, Romanian is a romance language, which Georgetta told me was close to Portuguese and Italian) was in the process of figuring out how to produce premium table wines once again. In fact, before Georgetta left Romania, she and her husband had a wine-related business focused on boutique wines, so it seems there is a glimmer of hope that in the post-Communist era and there may be some cool stuff coming out of that country in the future.

How did Georgetta get to the US and come to work at Big House?
With a degree in food science from a prestigious Romanian university and an entrepreneurial spirit, Georgetta found herself working for a winery in southern Romania. Things were going well.

On a fluke, Georgetta's husband, also a winemaker by trade, entered a lottery for a green card to the US, thinking he didn't stand a chance of winning. He did.

And a few weeks after Georgetta's daughter was born, the family packed up and moved to Monterey, CA, the only place in the US where they had a Romanian friend of a friend. Georgetta spoke no English, only a bit of French, and travelled with her husband and newborn around the world to her new life in a small apartment.

Arriving in the fall, right in time for harvest at Kendall-Jackson, Georgetta's husband started there and worked his way through the chain at several large wineries, exhibiting skill in the craft of winemaking. Georgetta got a job at KJ as well. Her ambition, smarts and creativity allowed her to shine. She quickly showed proficiency and a "je ne sais quoi" for blending wines. She was working at The Wine Group when Big House and Cardinal Zin wines were purchased from Bonny Doon Vineyards in 2008. She became the lead winemaker on both these brands.

What an American story!

Georgetta's winemaking philosophy
Big House Red and White are each blends of multiple varietals. Georgetta told me that at her first harvest, there were 42 grape varieties to choose from to go into the red and white blends (Big House Red & White).

That's an overwhelming number of wines to combine for most, but Georgetta relished the challenge. She has a very sensitive nose so that makes it easy for her to identify components that will combine in the recipe for a great product.

"Everybody brings something to the party," Georgetta says of her blends.

Georgetta's take on the differences between male and female winemakers
Georgetta cites that men and women can come at winemaking differently -- men view it as a science with precision and process, whereas women may view blending, especially, as more of an art. She joked that she tells the men at her winery "let me do the cooking!" which, given the value to quality ratio of the wines, seems to be good advice.

Talking Turkey: How does Georgetta feel about making wines at a lower price with kitschy marketing?
Maybe I shouldn't have asked this question, but I was curious and she was cool, so I did it (yikes, was that too harsh? I thought you guys may want to know this).

Her answer was simple: she loves wine, and she couldn't work for a conventional, staid brand that made the same varietals year after year. She loves Big House because it allows her expression -- she gets to throw in a dash of this and a pinch of that into her blends and it's different each vintage. She is a little funky and eccentric herself and feels the brand is a great match for her. She's quite proud that they are such great value for the money. Making Merlot and Chardonnay year after year with no degrees of freedom would seem stifling to her.


I loved my few hours with Georgetta and thought she was terrific. I thought it would be a little overwhelming to post my mini-reviews of the wines here, so I've posted it in the next post. Please click on that one to learn about the wines!

For more information on Big House, please see their site: http://www.bighousewine.com/